Saturday. I only slept 3 hours. Nothing new. I cope ok when i have a few nights of only 6 hours in a row, but when I dip below 5 after numerous nights of only 6 i don’t feel good and don’t handle stress as well. But I enjoyed a slow morning in the apartment writing and keeping an eye on the construction projects across the street.
After another breakfast cooked by Jim (always eggs with veggies and cheese and either bread or pastries) we then walked 35 minutes to the impressive St Sava’s cathedral that we have visited several times before. On our first visit in 2015 it was not yet finished inside (construction began in the 1930s but had many prolonged periods of dormancy). None of the stone or mosaic work was in place.
I always have mixed feelings and many thoughts when I am there. It is definitely interesting to look at, inside and out, and is skillfully conceived and done. It is beautiful in both its detail and overall design which works as a coherent whole. The walls, hundreds of feet high, and domed ceilings and arches are covered with images of scores of saints and biblical and historic scenes using shiny tiny mosaic tiles. It’s hard to imagine the time required and number of hands used to complete these mosaics. The high domes ceilings deserve the description of soaring. The smooth light colored stone the church is made of is also beautiful.
But…. when I am there I can’t ignore the fact that the Orthodox Church has corrupt leaders who are beholden to the mafia and government. I’m sure there are many good Priests in the Church, but at least some of those with power are not. While there this time we saw through an opening a few people doing something off to the side behind the iconoclastis. Later several black robed bearded portly Priests emerged along with a short civilian middle aged man wearing sunglasses and casual clothes. With him was a woman dressed up and wearing a gauzy veil. The couple and the Priests stood together, protected by a couple security guys while their pictures were taken. Then they walked to the stairway leading to the crypt below and closed the entry for the public behind them. We have no idea who this couple was but they had a mafia vibe about them.
Another thing I don’t like about this church is there is no public bathroom. With its thousands upon thousands of visitors one would think they would provide toilets but they do not. There are also 2 large shops to the sides of the main entrance with huge gilded icons for sale along with lots of smaller ones. All monasteries have gift shops but these were especially gaudy and reeking of commercialism which in my mind is not congruent with the spirit of the faith.
Nonetheless I can and do feel the Spirit here. Being in the space connects me to feelings of awe, peace, gratitude and God. And I believe not all Priests in the Church are corrupt. I’m sure many are in their roles because of their love of God and desire to serve. But the ones we saw with the mafia man were fat. The eldest did have a kind face and he did pause and cross himself when he walked past the icons.
After our time in the church we went to a cafe across the street where we had met 2 of our Serbian teachers last year. I ordered coffee and refrained from getting one of the tempting desserts on the menu. It was early afternoon, not a time for sweets. However, when I saw the waiter deliver a delicious looking dessert to someone else I gave in and asked for a piece of tiramisu, which was yummy.
As we sat looking at the church and watching passersby I was trying to articulate for myself what it was about the exterior I did not like. For one thing the building is huge. It is out of scale in the context of the buildings around it, although there is a lot of open space around it which helps. But if I had been the architect I would have added more contrast to the exterior stone work, either using another color or two of stone, or having sections with different patterns to break up the monolithic feel. That said, I do enjoy looking at the church even if I don’t love it. And I like that kids run around, ride bikes, and kick soccer balls on the paved grounds around the church.
After that we stopped at a bank machine (the German one) to get cash to pay for our apartment, then continued home. I wish I had taken more photos. I say I will every year, but when we are walking it feels I am taking a lot.
I tried to nap when we got back but no luck. No matter how tired I am I rarely can fall asleep during the day.
At 6:15 we walked to the restaurant, Novasava, to meet our second Serbian language teacher named Dragana. We nicknamed her D2 because our first (and current) teacher is also Dragana (nicknamed D1). The large, modern, spacious, clean place was nearly empty despite it being Saturday night. We had to detour again to get to the place but walked the waterfront promenade much of the way. Dragana was pregnant when we saw her a year ago in April and her daughter, Dunya, is now over one. Dragana is liking being home with her and has many friends with young kids. She works from home teaching Serbian online. Her husband is a traffic engineer. They live across the river in New Belgrade which they like and have no plans of moving anytime soon (she grew up in southern Serbia) but like so many young people she thinks life could be better if some day they can move north to an EU country. She agrees that the Serbian government is corrupt and problematic and hopes for change. She appears to have more hope in the Student movement than most Serbs we’ve talked with.
The food was good. Jim and I ordered chicken and grilled veggies and a salad. Because many Serbs eat their big meal earlier in the day and only have a small dinner she only ordered a salad. We had asked in advance that we pay but she refused. We felt a little bad that she paid for our two full dinners and only had a salad herself. But Serbs never split a bill, and if you are a traveling guest they will insist on paying.
We enjoyed catching up with Dragana but she is much more reserved and protective than our two other teachers and even though she is polite, friendly and appears to be interested in us we are never quite sure how to read her, but we think she was happy to meet with us.
When we went outside and were about to part ways we asked if we could take her picture she said no, very unusual for people here to refuse. We aren’t sure why. When we met with her two times in the past she was happy to let us photograph her.
We walked home on the popular new waterfront way. Buskers performed at what seemed to be designated spots and each played an instrument and sang with recorded music in lieu of a band. People of all ages strolled along the concrete path, walking on top of images of fantasy-like futuristic waterfront life projected from streetlights onto the sidewalk. I found the images to be creepy. They reminded me of scenes from dystopian movies where there are idyllic looking towns run by friendly but evil leaders in cahoots with monsters or aliens that live hidden in tunnels underground.
The bridges across the Sava were attractively illuminated. The dozens of new, tall, partially occupied condos were attractive in a bland way, but could be in any city. There was no Serb character to this area at all. It reminded me a bit of Vancouver. At least some of the buildings were not crowded together and there were grassy areas and seating areas around them in contrast to the very compact rest of the city. I don’t know how much it costs to live in these condos but it is much more than ordinary Serbs in Belgrade can afford, as are the trendy restaurants on the bottom floors. The area continues to grow. I counted 10 huge cranes (with a ladder to the control cabin at the top, not an elevator!) working on more condo projects, which, as I mentioned, are known to be money-laundering projects.
I like Belgrade… but can only take so much, which is true for me about any city, no matter how nice.
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